It has been found desirable to be able to identify the mold cavity, of a glass forming machine, from which an individual container has been molded, particularly in the operation of a multiple cavity glass forming machine of the type known as the "IS" or Individual Section machine. Containers are presently made with numbers which will identify the particular mold in which the container is made. To be able to identify the containers at a position remote from the point at which it is made, the containers may be provided with a code and a reading apparatus will receive the containers from a moving conveyor with the containers arranged in successive alignment on the conveyor.
It is found that when a particular cavity is producing a defective bottle, it would be desirable to select out all of those containers made in a particular mold. Obviously, in order to do this it is necessary to be able to identify which container has been made in which mold.
In the past, it has been the practice to put in the bottom plate of each forming mold a number indicating the number of the cavity in relationship to the other cavities on the forming machine. For example, a ten section IS machine, if operating with three cavities per section, would produce as many as thirty (30) bottles in one complete machine cycling and, therefore, at least thirty (30) distinctive marks or numbers would be needed to identify each cavity.
After being formed, these bottles or containers will be moving in a single line on what is termed the machine conveyor which leads from the forming machine to an annealing lehr. After the containers have been annealed in the lehr, they will again be single-lined and generally will pass through inspection machines at which time defective containers will be segregated from acceptable containers. During the inspection of the containers by the inspection machine, a particular defect may be found in a recurring cycle which corresponds to a mold indicating that a particular mold is repeatedly producing a defective container.
While it is possible to continue to run the glassware forming line in such a manner that the defective containers will be segregated after the inspection, it has been thought to be more desirable to have the ability to select out the container which is defective by identifying the container prior to its being annealed. This will save some fuel in that the container will not have to be annealed and it will save wear and tear on the gauging and inspection machinery.
When the containers, in the present forming systems, are segregated or rejected by a gauging machine, the defective bottle is returned to the forming area where the forming machine operator may pick up the defective bottle and observe the cavity number molded in the bottom of the bottle. With this knowledge, if it were possible to have the bottles automatically identified by machinery as to cavity, then it would be possible for the operator to have the containers that are subsequently produced by the defective mold segregated prior to their arriving in the annealing lehr or prior to being gauged.
Several cavity identification systems have been suggested in which the containers which are to be identified are viewed from above. In most of these systems, however, it has been suggested that the containers must be moving in a straight line and stopped and rotated at an inspection position. The handling equipment did not provide for repairing the equipment while maintaining the flow of containers from the supply to the point of use. In such instances when it is required to replace bulbs or adjust the identification devices, it has been necessary to stop the flow of containers, effect the correction, and resume the flow of containers.
In the present case, where the only inspection that is being carried out is for the purpose of identifying which cavity of the molding machine produced the container, the criticality of every container being inspected or viewed is not considered crucial. Therefore, when it is necessary to repair or adjust the identification system the present invention provides means for continuing the movement of containers on the conveyor without any appreciable interruption.